Election '96.

Durbin A Bit Off Target On Gun Issue

Ex-cop's Comments Lead To Questions

September 10, 1996|By Flynn McRoberts, Tribune Staff Writer.

Democratic Senate candidate Dick Durbin played the political equivalent of Russian roulette Monday, mocking his opponent's position on gun control only to leave himself open to questions on the volatile issue.

"He is a lap dog of the gun lobby," Durbin said of Salvi. The Republican state representative from the Wauconda area supports repealing the federal ban on assault weapons and has received nearly $60,000 in donations this year from the National Rifle Association.

"He comes when called, and the National Rifle Association has called on him repeatedly," Durbin said.

The only thing that muddied Durbin's event was the Springfield Democratic congressman's choice of company. Joining him were Mike Robbins, a former Chicago police officer who survived a shooting and spoke in favor of gun control at the Democratic convention, and Philip Andrew, who became a gun-control advocate after being shot by Laurie Dann.

Neither Robbins nor Andrew was shot with a gun included in the assault-weapons ban. Andrew was shot with a .32-caliber revolver, Robbins with a semiautomatic handgun. During the news conference, Robbins called for tighter regulation of guns not covered by the assault-weapons ban.

"The ban should be broadened," he said. "It's not only a moral issue but it's a public-health issue."

Durbin was asked whether he would support expanding the ban to cover the weapons that injured Robbins and Andrew. He said he wouldn't unless police asked for it--even though a former officer standing next to him had just done exactly that.

"I'm going to leave it to the law-enforcement community to come forward," Durbin said.

Durbin knows he must attract Chicago-area voters without alienating people who live in other parts of the state where hunting and the use of guns for sport are common.

With that in mind, Durbin hastened to add that "people who legally and responsibly use firearms should be allowed to do so. We are talking about simple things--whether or not there's a background check to make sure that person is responsible, doesn't have a criminal record or a history of mental illness."

With the assault-weapons ban, he said, "we are limiting 19 out of 650 weapons."

Durbin even said that he carries a state firearm owner's identification card. He said he doesn't own a weapon but borrows a shotgun to shoot skeet at a range in his congressional district.

"The question is not whether people can legally own firearms," he said. "The bottom line is there is a legal way to do it."

The attack continued Durbin's strategy of focusing on a few issues--such as gun control and abortion, which Salvi opposes--to counter the Republican's portrayal of him as a "big-taxin', big-spendin', pay-grabbin' liberal," as a Salvi TV commercial puts it.

Asked about Salvi's NRA support, campaign spokesman John Torre said Salvi, a lawyer, lent his primary campaign more than $1 million. By comparison, the nearly $60,000 from the NRA is "a small amount," Torre said.

Campaign manager Mark Mills declined to discuss Durbin's allegations that Salvi does the bidding of the gun lobby. Instead, the Salvi campaign issued a statement that accused Durbin of being "soft on crime" by claiming to be for the death penalty but voting against it in 1991.

Durbin spokeswoman Terry Stephan responded that the bill also would have removed the requirement that juries be told that they don't have to impose the death penalty. She said the measure also would have allowed capital punishment in cases in which no intent to kill had been proven.